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00:01 Today we're going to do a very controversial topic called women in ministry. If I'm not
00:07 careful, I won't leave the hall. So, can I have the poll first? I need to
00:13 know where this church stands. This is the menty meter. Uh, can you just uh uh
00:20 click on the code which is 64 2112?
00:27 Now, it's so small I can't read it, but you can read it in your phones. Which of
00:33 the following do you subscribe to in general? Not specifics. Okay. Number one, women I can't even read.
00:41 Should only minister and teach women or children. Women should only be allowed
00:46 to teach in small groups that include men. Women should be allowed to preach
00:52 from pullpit on Sunday in FBC. Women should be allowed to be pastors or
00:57 elders in FBC but not hold authority final authority over men. Women should be allowed to be pastors or elders in
01:05 First Baptist Church having authority over men. Okay. So it goes in extremes.
01:10 So can you just key in your response and see where this church is? Think for
01:15 yourself. Don't follow the crowd.
01:34 Wow.
01:40 82 people. 93
01:50 120. Oh, catching up.
02:02 Okay, we're going to end it in about 5 seconds, right? Five 4 3 2
02:11 one. Let's take a snapshot of that someone. So we find that first baptist
02:17 church majority says everything goes. Okay.
02:23 This is a very very egalitarian church isn't okay. Not what I expected at all. I mean
02:29 um let's start with a word of prayer. Lord we ask this morning that you really guide us uh
02:37 to live under the authority of scripture. Not what society says, not
02:43 what our heart says, but what your word says. We ask for Jesus sake. Amen. So I
02:49 think we're living in a society that's very egalitarian. Uh that I think the
02:55 poll reflects that. I I belong to the uh we was planted the church is planted by
02:60 the Southern Baptist Convention in the United States. And one of the the the the luminaries of uh the that convention
03:08 is actually Beth Moore who is a very famous speaker. She's got 1 million
03:13 Twitter followers and uh she was actually invited this year annual messengers conference uh to be part of
03:21 the panel which is a big thing and she was suggesting that on Twitter that she was spending mother's day giving a talk
03:27 at the church. The moment she said that, then social media controversy came out.
03:34 Owen Straken, professor at the Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, says for a woman to teach and preach to
03:41 adult men is to defy God's word and God's design. She's just going to share on Mother's Day. Women do not preach on
03:48 sun to on Sunday to the church. Doing so is functional egalitarianism. We will not capitulate here. Al Mhola who is
03:56 basically president of the Southern Baptist Theological Assembly Louisville says there's just something about the
04:02 order of creation that means God intends for preaching voice to be a male voice.
04:08 And then you've got Joyce Josh Bruce pastor of Southern Baptist Church in Georgia. Why should the Southern Baptist
04:15 Convention say why the Southern Baptist Convention should say no more to Beth Moore? Get the pun?
04:22 And then on the other hand, you've got Wade Burlson, a pastor, former trustee of IMB. Beth does Christian ministry.
04:29 She shouldn't need to defend her ministry to Southern Baptist Caucasian males who have fallen into the doctrinal trap of eternal subordination of women.
04:37 And then Beth herself, I think she's a bit upset. She says, "I'm compelled to my bones by the Holy Spirit. I don't
04:42 want to be but I am to draw attention to sexism, misogynism that is rampant in
04:47 the segments of SBC cloaked by piety and bearing the stench of hypocrisy. Wow,
04:54 that is very strong, isn't it? Okay. So you see for a woman to just suggest in a
04:60 in the Baptist convention to just share on a Sunday has drawn so much
05:05 controversy. It's a big thing. Um this is a study from Harvard and Notre Dame
05:11 looking at Americans uh 2,000 almost 3,000 of them. If you look at that um
05:16 this is the the entire entire population should women be priests or clergy in my
05:22 house of worship and you can see among the entire sample majority do agree
05:27 Catholics also and if you look at Southern Baptist actually the Southern Baptist 65% will actually agree that
05:35 they can actually minister and here is the one with men and women men are darker and men and women also female 73%
05:44 and men about 58% are in favor of them being able to be pastors or ministers
05:50 etc. Okay. So here we actually have uh on one hand our leaders which is way to
05:56 the right and on the other hand the people you know way to the left where do
06:02 we stand you know um if you look in society you look at Barbara Harris the first female bishop of Anglican church
06:09 uh in 1989 they're very progressive and uh church of England Libby Lane uh first
06:16 female bishop 2015 okay uh sudden Baptist Convention
06:21 meeting uh they write resolution on ordination a role of women in ministry while Paul commends women and men alike
06:28 in other roles and ministry and service. Titus 2:1-10 Timothy 2:12 he excludes
06:34 women from pastoral ministry. Uh 1 Timothy 2:12 to preserve submission God
06:40 requires because man was the first in creation and woman was first in Edin 4. 1 Timothy 23.
06:47 So today we're going to deal with this particular passage because most of the
06:53 restrictions of women in ministry come from this particular passage and this particular passage only. We have I've
06:59 preached on this and this before and this is the last one which we will tackle today. All right, let's look at
07:06 the the the passage. This is actually uh squeezing a threehour Bible study I had
07:11 with mostly ladies and and into 40 minutes now. So I I I forgive me if
07:17 there are a lot of issues. You can ask me afterwards, okay? Or attend the next Bible study. I hope more men will only
07:22 only three men attended. All right? And your positions are at stake. You know, men and only three men
07:29 attended. I don't know why. All right. So here we actually have I desire that in every place men should pray lifting
07:35 holy hands without anger or quarreling. Likewise, women should adorn themselves in respectable apparel, with modesty,
07:41 self-control, not with braided hair or gold, pearls, or costly attire, but with that with what is proper of women who
07:48 profess godliness with good works. Let a woman learn quietly all submission. I do not permit a woman to teach or to
07:54 exercise authority over a man. Rather, she is to remain quiet. Here is a letter
07:60 by Paul to Timothy the first. and and Timothy is in charge of the Ephesian
08:05 church and he writes it occasional letters in a letter where you actually have one half of a conversation and
08:11 you're answering problems. So probably Timothy would have probably you know uh uh written to him hey brother you know
08:18 got problem or my my people come to church every day wear pearls and and birkin bag and all this sort of thing.
08:24 So Paul has to say you know uh you know write this right and the men come they they wall up each other outside but they
08:30 come here lift their hands and pray you know see you can see there's something going on some half of the conversation so you
08:37 have to understand that this is not a general letter you write and and you want all the churches to follow it isn't
08:42 first of all start off you know it's an occasional letter it's like walking into somebody's house and then the mother
08:47 shouts shut up sit down go to your bedroom and you're the guest she thought she was speaking to her
08:54 So you're in the middle of a conversation. So uh that's one of the issues. The issue is false teaching
09:00 there. This this church in Ephesus is plagued by a lot of false teaching. They've got myths and fancy theories
09:07 about theology. You've got people who say no, you shouldn't get married. You should single like a nun or a priest.
09:14 Even that is changing nowadays. Uh certain foods you cannot eat. Prosperity, gospel, godliness is a way
09:20 to prosperity. overrealized esquetology. Some people believe that the resurrection has
09:26 already occurred. Uh then you've got superior knowledge. Some people know more and so therefore you'll be saved to
09:31 heaven faster probably. So these are things that dealing with when so when Paul writes this letter, he he's
09:37 actually addressing all these issues here. Uh and who's doing all the false teaching
09:43 will avoid irreverent babble? It will lead people to more ungodliness. The talk will spread like gang green. Among
09:49 them are Himalayers and Phileitas who have swerved from the truth saying the resurrection already happened. They're
09:55 upsetting the faith of some. These two are men. Alexander the copper smith did
10:01 be great harm. He is a man. False teachers are men. But why are women prohibited from teaching? All the bad
10:07 actors are men. And they t the women. Why? Very odd, isn't it? Um so women,
10:13 what were women? Women were busy bodies. Okay. refuse to enroll younger birth uh
10:18 wedders for their passions draw them from Christ. They desire to marry and so incur condemnation having abandoned the
10:24 former faith. Besides that, they learned to be idols going from house to house and not only idols but gossipers and
10:30 busy bodies saying what they should not. So this is like a common now. Uh so this
10:37 letter first of all in every place this is like a worship setting men should
10:42 pray lifting holy hands which means you should live in peace and not fight with
10:48 each other and pray uh live a life of integrity when you pray. Okay. And then
10:53 women are asked to focus on their character good works rather than
10:60 external um display of your wealth and your selfworth. Okay. You know you see
11:06 basically what he's saying is the more diamonds you deck out the shallower you are as it were. So you know focus on
11:13 your actual character itself. Okay. Now let's come to this part about women. Uh this is difficult. This passage is
11:19 difficult. Uh let a woman now this is doesn't apply to wivesh. Okay. Applies
11:25 to all women. Uh this is the only um tense which is basically uh the arrow
11:31 the wrong place should be here. uh learn with uh all submissiveness is this is
11:38 the actually imperative tense. Uh do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man. So it's a man or
11:44 woman. Woman must sit there quietly and learn. It applies to all women and not
11:49 wives. It's too short a time for me to go into tell you why it's women and not wives. But it is weak women at the time
11:57 different from our women now. Our women here get married too late. They're betrothed at two years of age, married
12:03 by 14, grandmother as 30. Someone of you will be grandmothers now. All right. So,
12:09 and really high mortality rate. Uh a lot of them die during childirth. 50% of the children died by the age of six years
12:16 old. And those who survive till mid20s or 30s, uh that's all they can live and
12:22 men live a decade um longer. There's a big cult there where they actually
12:27 worship Artimus, goddess of Ephesus, who is actually a woman as noted. You can
12:32 multiple breasts here. You she's really all woman, you know. Um and then uh
12:40 pagan worship women were actually participants and priests. They were allowed to take some leadership role
12:46 there. And the daughters and wives of some of the fa wealthy families held priesthoods. uh they actually had even
12:54 over uh under the oversight of males who were authorities. Women education they were also educated
13:01 if you were in the upper class. If you were in lower class you would not be educated. They were educated in their
13:07 duties to managing large households. They didn't get educated in philosophy, rhetoric, how to talk or medicine but
13:14 they had own opportunities for intellectual pursuits. So this is education women. So they're not highly
13:20 educated but the rich ones were all right. So they were educated. Uh the
13:25 different kinds of women. This is one of their philosophers the Bostonines. He says we have hyera which is a sort of
13:31 mistress for pleasure. Palake to look take care for our daily body needs.
13:37 Gyneis which is the basically the wives to bear us legitimate children and to be faithful guardians of our household.
13:43 Hitera actually this uh mistresses are actually highly educated. They spend time talking to the men about politics.
13:51 All right. Now, let a woman learn quietly with all submissiveness.
13:57 Okay. It applies to all women and not wives. And the whole thing is that there
14:02 are several we Greek words for that could be used gi
14:08 or partnon. The word here is goni. Okay. And it can be a female or a wife and is
14:14 determined by context. And in context here it is women. So it applies to all women. I do not permit a woman to teach.
14:22 Okay. So here we uh have the word I do not permit. This is actually in the
14:27 present active indicative tense which some people argue because you use this tense in rather than imperative tense.
14:33 It's a temporary injunction. But that's not really true because you look at the rest of literature you'll find that Paul
14:39 often uses the present active indicative tense to give commands as well. So
14:44 that's not a very good argument. The thing is that um I do not permit a woman to teach or exercise authority. This is
14:52 the biggest controversy in this passage. The word is authority. You know why the problem is? Because this word authority
14:58 is authentex which means it is the only word in the
15:04 entire New Testament. Paul there's no other word in the New Why would Paul not
15:10 use words like exos and all the rest which actually describe authority? Why must he use a word which nobody uses? In
15:16 fact, this word is so rare. It's only used 114 times in all surviving Greek
15:22 literature. It's a colloquial word. You know, very, you know, hawen kind of
15:28 colloquial which which only rough people use. Before the birth of Christ, it was
15:34 used for someone who murders his brother or sister. Kid murderer. So, it's not a good word. And from the time of Paul
15:41 until 312 BC uh AD it's only used five times that we actually have in
15:47 literature only five occasions and Paul is the only one who uses it on the six occasion and all of them indicates some
15:53 sort of authority. Now why would Paul use that? So that that is the huge controversy
15:60 overin it can be used authority in a positive way or a negative way. So if
16:05 you're a positive way is women shouldn't you know hold a position of authority
16:11 over men. If you're negative means ah woman mustn't do over men. Oh the first
16:18 year okay bully him. So so that word can have two nuances and it's so rare to use
16:25 this word that we can now argue about it. Right? So it's a little bit why would Paul do that? Okay. Um Katherine
16:32 Koger, one of the main uh people who actually uh did research in this area, he says it should be taken negatively.
16:38 That mean women shouldn't dominate men. If you nicely have authority over him, it's okay, but don't dominate him. Uh he
16:45 thought that women were engaged in fertility cults or proclaim herself author originator of men. Uh Paul
16:51 Wilshire says women instigate violence. But trouble is all these are theories. It is
17:08 All right. All right. I don't know why divine intervention. All right. So,
17:13 taken negatively. So, not a lot of evidence there, but still something to think about. Uh the best evidence I've
17:20 seen is Andreas Costenberger who actually looked at the uh the the the grammar and he says to teach is an
17:26 infinite uh uh verb and exercise authority is also infinite in if it's
17:32 separated by or or day. Uh if you look at all of Greek literature you'll find it's either both positive or both
17:38 negative. God. If it's both negative means I do not permit women to teach men falsely or to have authority over men
17:45 and dominate teaching as teach falsely did they scan.
17:51 So therefore it must be I do not permit women to teach or to have authority over
17:56 men. So you can't run. This is exactly what Paul says. If you are to live under the authority of scripture you can't
18:02 run. You can't twist it and say to dominia over uh early church fathers
18:07 chrostm and Oregon also agreed with this uh translation
18:13 why can't they teach and have authority over men there are three reasons given
18:18 here and these reasons are very very very important because underlying reasons are the same for Paul everywhere
18:25 you look at Ephesians and Corinthians the same so I believe it applies now if you look at the there are three passages
18:32 that are commonalities. There are restrictions. Women can pray but must use head covering. 14 women cannot weigh
18:37 the prophecy of men. Timothy 2 cannot teach of authority over men. There restrictions but there's a rationale is
18:43 shame and gender distinction because if they do that they cause shame. Um 14
18:50 issue of shame and submission. The last one is issue of submission. So there is this idea of idea of gender uh uh
18:57 distinction and then shame and submission. uh the theology where does he get it from? This is from Genesis 2.
19:04 This is also from Genesis 2. And the last one is also Genesis 2 and 3. So it's the same. The thread is all the
19:10 same. So Paul isn't just talking about cultural. Now if you see is a cultural
19:15 if you look from creation AD55 or thereabouts where Paul wrote this letter in AD uh 2019 today here you have the
19:24 culture says to men pray with lifted hands. Women must not wear gold. All
19:31 right. Can you apply today? Today our culture men pray but no hands lifted. I
19:36 didn't see any. And then women must not bring burkin back.
19:43 How many of you wear gold? Put your hands up. Oh say. So obviously you're either very very uh
19:50 stubborn Christian who is sinning or you've reinterpreted in a different way, right? Because you
19:56 know it's contextual. But if Paul goes all the way back to creation, it's no
20:02 longer cultural. It's actually by design. That's why that's his rationale.
20:08 All right. So let's look. Adam was formed first and then Eve. Adam created
20:14 first. Therefore, there's intrinsic order in creation. There's male leadership. Then people say, "Allah,
20:20 Mark cannot. How can animals created first? Simba should be the boss.
20:27 Isn't it? Simba should be here with the clicker, right?
20:34 But not a very good argument because Simba isn't made in the image of God, right? Maybe the tail end line, you
20:39 know, but he is not made. So that's not a good argument. Or some people say, you know, John the Baptist is before Jesus.
20:46 Ma, he should be first or Mary before Peter, isn't it? How come Peter becomes head of the church and Mary doesn't
20:51 become head of the church? So there's an argument there, too. Uh some people say it's not logical or just just because
20:57 you're first and uh you know primogenature is the the firstborn is the one that always gets the authority
21:04 but God has shown he's overturned that he chose uh Jacob rather than Esau right
21:10 so these are some of the reasons now let me clarify
21:15 men and women are equal Genesis chapter one he created man his image image
21:20 created him male and female they're equal there's no doubt out about that. So if you look in the scheme of Genesis
21:27 1 and 2 and 3, I want to bring you through there. Here we have the scheme of creation 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 days. There's
21:35 the overall scheme. The number one issue in Genesis chapter 1 is in 20 on the seven on the sixth day mankind is made
21:42 in the image of God and they are told be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, subdue it and have dominion. That is the
21:48 mandate divine mandate for us which applies even to today. Genesis chapter 2
21:54 and all this before that he says everything is very good. Okay. But then what happens in Genesis chapter 2 he
22:00 homes in on the specifics of day six. He reiterates this. He expands this idea of
22:08 mankind being made in image. And what do you mean by made in his image? What do you mean by be fruitful, multiply and
22:14 fill the earth? Day six. All right. So therefore, Genesis chapter 2 starts off with Adam created first and then he has
22:22 a mandate vocational command. You must work and keep the garden which is basically like worshiping God and
22:29 fellowshipping and keeping the world in check. And number two, you cannot eat from the tree. So there's a moral
22:35 command and there's a vocational command. And at the end of all that, God said not good.
22:43 All right? Why? because he couldn't do it alone. He needed a helper fit for him
22:48 and voila, Eve was created. Now you got to understand that when Abraham when
22:55 Adam was created first it is created in this sort of fashion and Eve was to
23:02 created to help him and together they actually keep the vocational and the moral command. So for Adam there was not
23:10 found a helper fit for him. So you need to find a woman who is basically fearfully and wonderfully made. Uh
23:16 helper eer does not mean subordinate does not mean less of a person. It can be used for god or also other people
23:23 helping someone. Uh kiggro means corresponding which means it's very very clear a helper corresponding not exactly
23:32 the same. If you want homosexual marriage then you will say exactly the same. You create a sexual clone. That's
23:37 not a clone. It is the word is very specific. It says it corresponds. Okay. And the text contextual warrant for Eve
23:45 assisting is that you know he asked them to be fruitful and multiply and subdue earth have dominion. You cannot do that.
23:51 Uh and that's the unless you have a woman, right? No, no man can multiply by
23:57 himself. You know, you're not amieba. All right. So when they were actually punished for their sin, you can see how
24:03 how to the woman I will multiply your pain in childbearing. The difference
24:09 where woman's role is crucial is childbearing. So when she gets cursed in
24:14 the fall, she gets cursed in that most crucial function that she has childbearing. And he gets cursed in the
24:22 vocational command which is basically to to to to uh earn a living as it were.
24:28 Now Paul looks back to Genesis 1 and two in chap Corinthians. For a man ought not
24:34 to cover his head since the image of the glory of God. But a woman is the glory of man. Man was not made from woman,
24:41 woman from man. Neither was man created for woman create but woman was created for. He looks back and says after God
24:49 created woman and she fulfilled the task together with him then only God said it
24:55 was very good. When God says it's very good means it fulfills its function for
25:01 what God created them to be. God created them to be multi- to multiply, be
25:06 fruitful and do have dominion over world. They cannot do it alone. They have to do it together, right? In a in a
25:14 in in a very unique pairing. So therefore, when the woman comes in the life, the man looks good in it because
25:21 finally you can say, "Oh, I can build, I can multiply, and all that stuff." Without the woman, he's no good. So
25:27 therefore, a man, the woman is the glory of man. Neither was a man created for woman. Woman is created for man. So man
25:35 can fulfill his destiny. All right. Look at how he he he
25:42 differentiates and orders the pairs. I I want you to understand this is Corinthians. The head of every man is Christ. The head of a woman wife is a
25:48 husband and the head of Christ is God. So therefore there is an arrangement.
25:55 Okay. in one Corinthians where Christ is over a man, man over woman, God over Christ, they are they don't function in
26:02 the same way and it parallels the family design submitting to one another out of
26:08 reference for Christ. A lot of people uh famous theologians as well take this out of context that means they submit to
26:14 each other. I mean you know uh today my wife drive the car tomorrow I drive the car to we decide where to live we take a
26:21 vote equal vote and then we both cannot agree then cannot agree u that's not how
26:27 you can look at here it says submitting to one another out of reference for Christ is a general term and how it
26:33 works out is wives submit to your husbands as to the lord husband is the wife of the ahead of the wife even as
26:40 Christ the head of the church body is himself the savior and it goes Husband loves your wife as Christ loved the
26:47 church and gave himself up for her. So this is a family design. If you go on the Ephesian passage, you can find even
26:53 though it ask you to submit to another, the women have to submit to the man. Children submit to the parents. Slaves
26:59 submit to the master. There is a direction. There's no mutual direction. They don't submit to each other. Father
27:05 says today, you know, to his son, I I I submit to you today, tomorrow you me. No such thing. So there is a natural order,
27:12 isn't it? All right. So you look at back to Genesis and this natural order is very very important. Uh Paul says
27:19 therefore a man shall leave his father and mother hold fast to his wife two shall become one flesh. This mystery is
27:25 profound. I'm saying it refers to Christ and the church. I mean the reason why
27:30 there is such difference mut there submission and order is because the
27:35 relationship between husband and wife in a family will reflect that of the church and the church reflects that of Christ.
27:44 So it's not something you can just do away. It is built into our design. Male
27:49 leadership is deal. For example, the woman is named. See the man goes and name all the animals. This one is a
27:56 kitten. This one is dog. Okay. Now by naming you have authority. God names
28:03 creation. He has authority. So in a sense here uh he says this is the bone
28:09 of my bones, flesh of my flesh. She shall become woo man because she's taken out of man. He names her. So there is
28:16 leadership there. When uh all hell breaks loose when they sin, the Lord
28:25 called to Adam and said to him, "Where are you?" You know when you have got three
28:30 children and the eldest one is supposed to look after all of them, right? Okay.
28:35 When there's explosion in the house, who do you call? You call all three. You you call the leader isn't it? Ahai
28:44 my mom used to call me the head honcho who who causes all the
28:50 trouble. There's leadership involved. You know he doesn't discipline all three of they all all but the guy who is
28:56 really responsible is Adam. Okay. Uh if you look here in
29:02 Romans who gets blamed for the fall Adam not Eve. Therefore, just as sin came in
29:08 the world through one man. Didn't say one woman, huh? And death through sin and so death spread to all men because
29:13 all sin. Romans 5:14. Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses. Even those whose sitting was not at the transgression of
29:20 Adam who was the type of one who was to come. Adam, Adam, Adam, bad guy, bad guy, bad guy. What happened to Eve? She
29:25 ate first word. Not fair, isn't it? Leadership's involved. Great leadership
29:31 comes with responsibility. And so, but there is equality, too. Paul says in Corinthians, "Nevertheless, in the Lord,
29:38 woman is not independent of man, nor man of woman. Woman is made from man. Man is now born of woman and all things are
29:44 from God." So, just in case it gets to your head, right? You're all equal. And in fact, this is the Magna Carta of uh
29:51 egalitarianism. Uh there is neither Jew nor Greek, there's neither slave nor
29:56 free male or female. You are all one in Christ. Remember, you're equal. But this
30:03 verse is only about salvation. Otherwise the homosexual say there's no male no female. So be careful about this verse.
30:10 All right? If you say it's no male, no female, big problem for me. All right? So the second reason uh so therefore
30:15 there's male leadership imprinted into the design of creation. Second reason why the women cannot teach and have
30:22 authority over there is that Adam was not deceived or the woman is deceived and became a transgressor. There are
30:28 three possible interpretations for this. First of all, Ephesian women are so uneducated, you know, just like Eve got
30:35 the command secondhand. Remember that God gave the command to whom? He gave the command not to eat the fruit to
30:42 Adam. Adam then told his wife, you know, God say like that, like that, like that. Not fair, but God say like that, like
30:47 that, right? See, so, so the Eve got the command secondhand, not very well
30:54 educated. And so therefore she was deceived and so therefore you know she
30:60 cannot teach. Okay. But actually that's a bit odd. We know why because the Adam must be a very terrible teacher because
31:06 he didn't pass on the command very well. And so why why should you ban Eve from
31:11 teaching? Actually the one at fault who was who didn't really pass on the command very well was actually Adam. So
31:16 that's a possibility. The other one is that all women like Eve, ah this is a major
31:23 major uh uh um denominations all buy into this that all women like Eve were
31:29 ontologically gullible, intellectually inferior, which means ontologically
31:34 designed, you know, less clever, less uh smart,
31:41 you know, sort of things. So that's going to be problematic. Um why that's why they cannot teach you
31:47 know um now women were asked to teach other women. Paul wouldn't encourage them to teach if they were so inferior.
31:54 It goes against God's goodness in creation. How come God create everything nice and perfect and godly and good
31:60 right and this one a bit cha no good? How can you know man is the best? This
32:05 is second best. I mean it doesn't fit the character of God. uh given the same education opportunities research has
32:11 shown in fact uh in undergraduates the women actually do better than men is for
32:17 years the the women were denied the opportunity to study so I don't think you can prove scientifically that women
32:23 are more gullible all right so um and Adam has got bigger culpability so why
32:30 prohibit the women so um this is her motivations was she sinning because she
32:37 very stupid stupid. Go and follow the the the the the serpent. Look at her motivations. The woman saw the tree was
32:45 good for food. It was a delight to the eyes. Tree was desired to make one wise.
32:52 You know, she didn't the serpent didn't come and say, "Hey, you makan then she buckan." She has a motive good for food,
32:60 delight to the eyes, and to make one wise to be like God. This is deliberate
33:06 desire to rebel. This is not accidental. She's not stupid. Very she's very very
33:13 smart. All right. So therefore is unlikely. The third reason is more likely. Eve deceived first as serpent
33:22 subverted male leadership and approach Eve. All right. So now look at this
33:28 verse. Genesis 3:1. Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast in the
33:34 field that the Lord had made. Now why would God write the Moses write serpent
33:39 very clever? How do you know he's very clever? You know how clever he is. He said to the
33:46 woman. So you enter his house. I remember once uh in Australia we had a
33:51 house there and uh this guy selling $3,000 Australian dollar um wash what
33:57 they call it vacuuming machine. comes in and walks past me and talk to my wife only. You know
34:05 what? Who do you think I am? Yeah, I got a checkbook here. You know, but he knew
34:10 I was totally irrelevant. She will just say sign, you sign, finish, right? So, that's an example of
34:17 how clever the salesman is. And here you have husband and wife together because if you look chapter six, the woman saw
34:24 the tree was good and now that she gave some to her husband who was with her there. So the snake goes up, go straight
34:30 to the woman, never go to the man. Man's just looking, you know. That's why the serpent very clever. So
34:37 he subverted male leadership and went straight to the woman. I think this
34:43 sounds much much more logical. It happens because they subverted male leadership. A third reason. Oh, this is
34:50 really difficult. A woman shall be saved through childbearing if they continue in
34:56 love and faith and holiness with self-control. But you have to look back into the context of this letter. Why
35:03 would all of a sudden a woman cannot teach men because they should be busy barefoot and pregnant? Correct. Yeah,
35:10 that's right. Uh because if you look in chapter four uh chapter 4, the spirit
35:15 expressly says in later times some will depart from faith by devoting himself to deceitful spirits and teaching of demons
35:20 through the insincerity of liars whose consciousnesses are seared who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods. If you forbid marriage, what
35:26 happened to the baby? Well, you could have sex outside marriage, I suppose, but in those days they don't think about
35:32 such things, right? All right. So basically what they're forbidding is the family said the resurrection has come.
35:37 All you going to go to heaven, no need to have marriage. don't have babies anymore. So that is what he's countering. And so therefore he says the
35:45 women will be saved through childbearing which means salvation. The women should stick to the divinely
35:51 ordained role which makes her special childbearing and as well as godly living
35:57 faith love and holiness and self-control which are all characteristics of a person who saved by faith. Okay. So this
36:05 is a summary. Women and should in Ephesians should not arrogate an official teaching role or authority for
36:11 themselves. They should learn submissively quietly from the elders. One created order. Two, Eve usurp male
36:19 leadership and was deceived by the serpent. Three, women experience salvation by adhering to the proper
36:24 roles which is exemplified in giving birth to children expressing other Christian virtues such as evidence of
36:30 their salvation. All right. Now remember this is written to Ephesian women 2,000 years ago. All right. So we need to work
36:37 that through. So is this nature letter is it normative or situation? Shall we
36:43 take this and apply it today? All right. So you can see there's practice and
36:49 principle. Men raising up their hands in prayer. Uh you must be prayerful with
36:55 integrity and and and with peace. Don't fight with each other and raise up your hands. You stand outside the church and then punch a fellow say come come raise
37:02 a hand. Wow. This hand will punch a brother. I can see his teeth marks here. So the the principle is you live at
37:09 peace and integrity. The other one is clothing and adornment you know modesty
37:14 emphasis on character and good works rather than outside. That's you know and so therefore you have the third one here. If these two are basically
37:22 practices are principle teaching and authority over men. I think the principle here is male leadership which
37:27 is important. Uh so can women teach in such a way not to undermine male leadership. Uh we are to teach each
37:33 other. Corsians, Paul writes, "Let the word of God dwell in you richly teaching, admonishing one another in all
37:40 wisdom." Didn't say you can't teach. We're asked to teach one another. Uh women, Timothy was taught by women. I'm
37:47 reminded of your sincere faith. A faith that dwells in your uh first your grandmother Lois and your mother
37:53 Ununice. Now I'm sure dwells in you. Priscilla and Aquilla. This is uh
37:58 Priscilla always mentioned uh first in most of the times it mentions in scripture rather than the husband. He
38:04 began to speak boldly in the this is about Apollos uh in the synagogue. But when Priscilla and Aquilla heard him,
38:10 they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately. So here is a woman teaching a famous preacher,
38:18 you know, like one lady here, you know, will stand up like Phyis and then she's going to take Anna Lim and teach him the
38:24 right thing, you know, how to preach properly, you know. Oh my god, the whole church will be in the uproar. But
38:30 actually did it quietly and you know it happened. So women supposed to keep quiet, right? Um all the gifts of the
38:37 Holy Spirit, there is no no gender specific. He doesn't bracket which gift
38:42 is with uh gender specific at all. Okay. Now if you look at the context of all
38:47 Pauline letters, all 13 of them, this is the only one that prohibits women from
38:53 teaching. Only one. uh is an occasional letter which means there are issues who we
38:59 don't know about and the meaning of authent is disputed and there's uncertain cultural context look at Jesus
39:06 the way Jesus dealt with women women were in his genealogy women were healed
39:11 mother Simon's mother-in-law women with menstrual bleeding gyrus daughter he's always reaching out to women the
39:18 prostitute uh washed his feet now that's you're a rabbi you will never let the
39:23 prostitute near you you know uh uh but he washed She washed his feet. His entourage
39:28 included many women. In those days, a rabbi does not walk around with women. You know, it is scandalous. Mary at his
39:35 feet learning you do not teach the Torah to women. It was only taught to men.
39:42 Samaritan woman was reached out by him. Divorce uh teaching equal treatment of men and women. But if you look, Jesus
39:50 never fully embraced full-fledged egalitarianism. He's got disciples on the outer edge
39:56 which were all women as well. Nine apostles and the closest ones are Peter, James, and John. They're all totally
40:02 male. There is still a pattern. You look at women in ministry, you've got Phoebe.
40:10 She is actually uh servant, which is actually the word here is diaonos, which
40:16 is basically uh deacon official position. Why? Diaonos of the church at
40:23 Ten Craig. So she actually holds a position. She's also a patron. Uh now
40:29 this patron is Priscilla. She be this is Priscilla begin to teach Apollos and Junas. Now Junas is interesting. If you
40:36 look at Romans uh greet Andronicus and Junias my kinsmen, my fellow prisoners who are outstanding among the apostles.
40:43 That means she is an apostle. Now she's not apostle in the sense of the twel apostles or the the luminaries but
40:49 aposttoloss means ascent one that means sent one on a missionary journey. So here we have a lady who sent out on a
40:57 missionary journey who basically plants churches. How do you plant church without teaching people
41:03 and then worst thing you go and plant church and the first thing you plant you got the first five converts and they're all men and they they become elders over
41:10 you and then you sit down you listen to them. It's stupid. This is absolutely stupid the way I
41:16 don't go. So, so basically there are women in ministry and and Paul commends
41:22 in all his letters especially Romans 16 all his co-workers right the word dakonos is translated various ways you
41:29 can trust as minister for Paul or for taikus minister minister there is
41:35 basically dakonos is also involved in the ministry of the word women are also
41:41 ministers of the word here you look at one Timothy chapter 3 deacons Okay. Now,
41:47 this is a passage talking about elders and then deacons. Deacons likewise must be dignified, not double my tongue, not
41:54 addicted to much wine or greedy for dishonest gain. They must hold the mystery of faith with clear conscience.
41:60 Let them also be tested first and then let them serve as deacons if they prove themselves uh blameless. Their wives
42:05 likewise must be dignified, not slanderers, but sober minded, faithful in all things. Now, that's a problem
42:11 here. The word their wives is I think mistransated because wives and women are
42:17 the same word Greek word is called gune. All right. So here they've actually translated uh their wives actually it
42:24 should be women likewise which therefore implies
42:29 women deacons because the same Greek word gunikas otos is dakonos as the same
42:36 construction. So it's more likely that he's talking about their women deacons.
42:43 Now there is another Greek word which you use for wives. I mean for deacons
42:49 wives. All right. So he doesn't use that. So to support this uh interpretation if you look in verses 2
42:56 to three the male elders you see all that sober minded self-control respectable. Then you got male deacons
43:02 dignified double tongue not addicted to wine. and female deacons or their wives not dignified, slanderous and
43:08 soberminded. See, they're all similar because their whole office. Okay, if you
43:13 the context supported here, you've got 1 Timothy chapter 3. He talks about elders qualification. Then he talks about
43:19 deacons qualification. Then he talks about deacons wives qualification. Why do I bother about the wife's
43:24 qualifications? Doesn't make sense when you actually miss out. Hey, what about the elders wife? Not important. Oh,
43:32 deacon's wife very important to know whether they are sober minded, whether they drink wine or slosh around. But the
43:38 elders wife escape doesn't make sense, doesn't it? It makes sense if you translate it as elders
43:45 qualifications, male deacons qualifications and deacons, women deacons qualifications. So therefore,
43:52 women have a role in church. And let's look at the Old Testament. If you look
43:57 at the Old Testament, prophetus, Miriam, Deborah, Hula, Isaiah's wife, they all
44:04 there were not many, but they all had the word of God given to them. And the
44:09 most common ministry of the word is by prophets. They minister God's words. They have authority, too. The prophets
44:16 had authority as well. Then you look at New Testament, you've got Anna, Philip's daughters, Corinthian women, and all
44:22 believers. Because Acts chapter 2 says, "In the last days, it shall be God declared that I will pour out my spirit
44:27 on all flesh. Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy."
44:33 All right. And lastly, Deborah. Deborah was not only a prophetess, she was a
44:40 judge, which means overall authority all over the land of Israel. Which means God
44:46 in his wisdom at any specific time in history can also make the woman the
44:52 overall leader of the entire nation. Right? So you cannot read scripture from
44:58 one perspective. You've got to take it on a whole. So where do we stand? male,
45:05 females in life, in the year, in the life to come, we are completely equal.
45:12 But when we're here, we actually have to deal a modulating effect with male
45:19 leadership, whether it's present or absent. And there are restrictions in order to show that the male leadership
45:25 is like the one in the family. And the other thing modulating effect on the way we do church is the culture of society.
45:32 If you are a very patriarchal society or you're a very egalitarian society, neither are correct. But you've got to
45:40 bring them to what scripture actually says. Two different churches. In Corenth, Paul says, "Women, you can pray
45:47 in public. You you can prophesy. You can do all that, but wear the head
45:53 covering." Right? In Ephesus, women shut up, learn in submission, public silence.
46:00 Same guy, you know. So therefore what he does is he takes a principle of male female egalitarianism
46:07 because he says no male female and he takes male leadership and he takes
46:12 society according situation and he applies the principles and comes up with
46:18 those suggestions. So here we have a spectrum of ministry in our church. It is for us to decide uh where we're going
46:26 to be as a people knowing scripture uh what we're going to do in church. uh
46:31 Martin Luther was very li liberated when he actually broke from the Catholic Church. He said is a duty of every
46:38 Christian to expouse the cause of the faith to understand and defend it and to
46:43 denounce every error. And did you know when did the reformation at that time the women were front and center heroes.
46:51 Uh Katherine Vin Bora was his wife who steadily helped him in his endeavors.
46:56 Mari Dinten was a a reformed nun and she did Bible translation and theological
47:02 writing. Argua von Grumbach was the first female lobbyist for reformation. She wrote a letter against all the the
47:10 leaders of uh the the town council of Inklestat defending the the the the
47:16 reformation and she wrote however I suppressed my inclinations heavier of heart. I did nothing because Paul says
47:24 in 1 Timothy 2, the women should keep silent and should not speak in church. But now that I cannot see any man who is
47:31 up to it, who is either willing or able to speak, I am constrained by the saying, whoever confesses me, as I said
47:38 above, I claim for myself Isaiah 3, I will send children to be their princes or women or those who are womanish shall
47:45 rule over them. See this is a time of reformation when when nobody supported
47:50 Martin Luther all the men tled keep quiet it took a woman to write this
47:57 letter and to support the cause of reformation they've been fighting about women leadership uh since the 17th
48:04 century in England from Baptists Fox book of martyrs writes there about at
48:10 that particular time among the baptist 930 marts did you know half of them were
48:15 women. Half of them were women. So women have a place in ministry. But the Lord said it
48:24 is not good that a man should be alone.
48:29 We cannot do this alone. We can't dominate this world alone. We can't even in the we can't spread the gospel alone.
48:37 We need women who are fearfully and what and and wonderfully made. There is equality and yet there's mutuality. What
48:46 is happening in the world today is you've got radical egalitarianism and
48:52 got homosexuality. All right. The feminists want to chop off this uh domination by the man but in
48:59 doing so they chop off his head too. All right.
49:04 Men and women are not the same. There are gender differences. man. Uh God
49:11 didn't create Adam and Steve. All right. This is all destroying the
49:16 image. You know why? Because if you go uh uh the other side of the coin is is people like him when when the SBC should
49:23 say no more to Beth Moore. So on the other extreme, isn't it on egalitarianism one side all the same and
49:29 the other one is men total domination or these are all not the right way to do things. You know why? What's behind the
49:36 struggle? Behind the struggle is Romans chapter one. For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and the righteousness of men
49:42 who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. What is known about God is plain to them because God has shown it
49:47 to them or in his invisible attributes namely eternal power divine nature have
49:53 been clearly perceived ever since the creation of the world in the things that have been made they are without excuse.
49:58 egalitarianism, radical feminism or being very patriarchal. All these are
50:04 basically a rebellion against the design which God has put into our hearts right
50:11 from the beginning. We are equal and we have different roles which are complimentary. We are equal and we are
50:17 mutual in the way we and the best way to describe this I'm minus 20 seconds out
50:24 is Ephesians because the church is like a family and
50:32 you look at the sword there. We're supposed to submit to one another. Wives, submit to your husbands.
50:38 Husbands, verse 25, love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself
50:43 up. There's an s word there, isn't it? For the women is submission. For the men is what? Sacrifice.
50:52 And that happens in the church as well. When you have got male leadership, the male leadership sacrifices for the women
50:58 and the women submit as it were. And it maintains that eternal paradigm that
51:03 designed that when the world looks at us, they will see a pattern long after
51:09 the the hoo-ha has died down. Whether it's home samesex marriage or or everybody equal, no difference between
51:15 men and women. When all that dies down, there's only one bedrock that keeps this society alive.
51:21 And that's the church of Jesus Christ where we love each other, we respect each other as equal partners and yet we
51:28 have different roles that glorify God and and a great expos exposition of what
51:34 the gospel really is. So I hope and pray among us today that the women will feel
51:41 empowered because we considered you our spiritual equals that you have a role in
51:47 the ministry of the word and all the men here will have to stand by the women and say look whatever you need us to
51:52 sacrifice we will do for you so that you will be able to spread the gospel as well as our partners. We cannot do it
51:59 without you because so many women in this church they're they're afraid to speak out they're afraid to do anything.
52:04 Why? because we will be subservient to men. If your men really love you, you won't be subservient. They will put you
52:10 up so that you can be all that you are because in the end it is a gospel that
52:16 goes ahead. So don't shrink back just because you are a woman and yet don't go
52:23 ahead and say all men and women are equal to no distinction. I can do
52:28 whatever I want. It has to be worked out in a mutual submission and respect in a
52:34 church like this. All right. So, let's end with a word of prayer. Lord, we
52:40 thank you that we are fearfully and wonderfully
52:46 made. Any one of us here today, Lord, we would not want to be a man if I'm a woman. If
52:54 you're a woman, you wouldn't want to be a man. a man you won't want to be wound because you have created us for a
53:00 purpose. You have created with a design. We pray as we interact in this church
53:06 that the women will be fully released to minister in whatever capacity that will bring glory to you for which they were
53:13 created to be and also men to be with them side by side receiving their help
53:19 working with each other to build each other up so that the gospel of Jesus Christ will spread and we become that
53:25 shiny beacon that oasis in the midst of a storm outside where gender differences
53:31 are totally obliterated. And then when the young people look they have no paradigm to look at they have no
53:37 example. We pray a lot we will be that anchor in this society if we ask for Jesus sake. Amen.
